Assessment

The DFE has published a set of core assessment principles to help schools prepare to implement new assessment arrangements for tracking pupil progress against the new National Curriculum. The document reminds schools that there will be no national system for doing this, but that schools will be expected to demonstrate (with evidence) their assessment of pupils’ progress so that they can keep parents informed, enable governors to make judgements about the school’s effectiveness and also to inform inspections by Ofsted.

The document states that ‘effective assessment systems’ should:

give reliable information to parents about how their child, and their child’s school, is performing

help drive improvement for pupils and teachers, and

make sure the school is keeping up with external best practice and innovation.

At Newlands, we have developed a system that builds on best practice nationally. Using a combination of exemplars, portfolios, pupil interviews and regular observations, our teachers carefully assess the needs of each child on a continuous basis. To support this, we use the latest software and hardware tools so that not only do we build a picture of assessment and learning over time, we have a platform that enables us to share reliable information on a regular basis.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage we use a system called Tapestry – an on-line tool that enables teachers and parents to work closely together at this key stage of development. At the end of each pupil’s Reception Year the team will provide judgements against the ‘Early Learning Goals’. Each pupil will be assessed against three judgements:

1 – Not yet reaching this level

2 – At the expected level

3 – Exceeding this level

This helps us to identify your child’s needs as they move into Key Stage 1.

In Key Stage 1 and 2 we extend this by using O-Track to support the process of gathering the information we need to ensure that every pupil is making the progress that they should – and if any pupils are underperforming we can make sure that they receive the help and support that they need to get back on track.

At the end of the academic year each pupil will again be assessed by using one of three key judgements:

A – Apprentice: not yet reaching the expected level

Q – Qualified: working at the expected level

M – Master: exceeding the expected level

The ‘expected level’ is carefully matched to portfolios of exemplar material, standardised summative tests and moderated records that are matched to other schools and sampled from local and national schools.